We went along the Rte. 864 road along the east side of the Jökulsá á Fjöllum glacial river. This large river flows out from the north side of the enormous Vatnajökull ice cap. The previous year we had taken the improved west side road, as the east side road was still closed (end of May). The east side road also has the benefit, when open, of reliably continuing to the Rte 85 road connecting to Asbyrgi and north to Melrakkasletta.